A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life

A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
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I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Autopsy of a Dead Church: Eleven Post-Mortem Lessons

by Thom Rainer,
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1. The church refused to look like the community.

2. The church had no community-focused ministries.

3. Members became more focused on memorials.

4. The percentage of the budget for members’ needs kept increasing.

5. There were no evangelistic emphases.


6. The members had more and more arguments about what they wanted.

7. With few exceptions, pastoral tenure grew shorter and shorter.

8. The church rarely prayed together.

9. The church had no clarity as to why it existed.

10. The members idolized another era.

11. The facilities continued to deteriorate.
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Thom fills in the details here.

2 comments:

Patrick said...

I would take issue here. Check out the edicts to the 7 churches in Rev. 2-3.

Jesus will in effect make us a local church w/o light at all with way less flaws than we're given here.

Allan R. Bevere said...

Patrick,

I do not understand how this post relates to the seven churches in Revelation. Can you please clarify?